Last week was stunningly bad for the Obama administration. Whistleblowers testified before Congress that the administration misled the American people about the terrorist attacks that killed four Americans in Benghazi on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last year. Then the IRS admitted to having targeted right-leaning non-profit groups for additional scrutiny in 2012.

Were this a Republican President, demands for hearings and investigations (if not impeachment) would be on the lips of not only the far-left activists, but mainstream Democrats and many in the media. How these scandals affect President Obama will be a test of the value of the Democratic brand in deflecting well-deserved scrutiny.

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Maybe it was a bad week for the Obama administration -- and maybe it was a fine week.

If the Obama-ists weather these scandals with no damage except squawking from the conservatives, then they will know that they are invulnerable, and are free to use the IRS, the regulatory agencies, and the legal system to harass all enemies without limit.

The real test is of the Democratic Party. Does it stand with the Republic, or has it turned into a Leninist party that controls the government according to the will of the Leader? Based on the performance of the Dems at the Benghazi hearing, the latter seems the case.
-- J.V. DeLong, Author: "Ending 'Big SIS' (the Special Interest State) and Renewing the American Republic"

All this will test...or show...is how "in the tank" the media are for the Ds. Nothing more, nothing less.

Posted by: titan | May 13, 2013 7:43:56 AM

Instructive to compare the media reaction to Benghazi to that for the Valerie Plame affair in 2003-06. Seems to me there is a vast assymetry in the quantity of converage and what was at stake. Also, compare the cooperation of the WH with the Plame special prosecutor to that of the WH today with Congress.